Health Care Professionals’ Understanding and Perceptions of Telemedicine in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: To assess the health care professionals’ understanding and perceptions of telemedicine in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A systematic review was conducted among the studies 12 empirical studies conducted in Saudi Arabia within the last five years. The articles were sought from PubMed central, CINHAL before an additional search on general open-access database like Google Scholar. The search process of the articles was summarized in a PRISMA diagram, and the included articles were summarized in an abstraction table. Results: The initial search for articles gave a result of 3503 articles, which were scrutinized and 12 articles were noted after excluding all the irrelevant articles. Two key thematic outcomes were noted; an overall positive perception of telemedicine and varying levels of knowledge and awareness among the among healthcare workers. Four factors were noted by the healthcare workers to affect perception on telemedicine; technology, costs, knowledge levels, location and coordination between healthcare staff and the information and communication technicians. Conclusion: There is an increasing knowledge and awareness, and knowledge regarding telemedicine among the healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia. A continuous training of the healthcare workers may improve the positive outcomes of telemedicine application, especially in quality of patient care.